The Venezuelan government has published a decree requiring taxpayers with crypto operations in the country to pay their taxes in cryptocurrencies. Similarly, operators of foreign currencies must pay their taxes in those currencies. The decree states that the change is necessary for the “strengthening of the current fiscal regime.”

Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has warned the public against 14 websites whose operators have been soliciting customers to buy and sell cryptocurrencies and related products. The regulator says these operators are not authorized to conduct crypto business in the country. Currently, only seven companies are temporarily approved for crypto operations.

The lawyer for the alleged BTC-e exchange operator, Alexander Vinnik, claims that the Greek supreme court has decided to extradite him back to his motherland. If true, this would be a significant blow to US authorities’ attempts to get their hands on Vinnik and extract information from him about Russian hackers.

The electricity consumption of Bitcoin mining operations has always been a thorn in the side of many people. Various studies on this topic have been published over the years. In Chelan County, Washington, a major development is taking place. Rural electric utilities are taking an aggressive stance against various Bitcoin mining firms over their “disruption” of the local power grid.

Chelan County Turns on Bitcoin Mining

Over the past two to three years, various Bitcoin mining firms have set up shop in Washington’s Chelan County. This part of the state has an abundance of renewable energy, and its power grid seems more than capable of supporting large energy draws. While this situation has worked out quite well for several years, local residents are getting fed up with these Bitcoin miners, by the look of things. Read more...

The cryptocurrency industry has seen tremendous growth this year, with a 3,363 percent increase in market capitalization and a 216 percent increase in cryptocurrency and asset exchanges. While this is certainly promising, it foreshadows a unique scalability problem. At present, most crypto companies are almost entirely dependent on the charity of “nodes” to establish and enforce the rules of their platform — all with little or no incentive to do so. Read more...

The Chelan County Public Utility District (PUD) in Washington state is heightening its security over fears of angry Bitcoin mining operators who are being shut down.

As some countries crack down on Bitcoin mining, operators have taken to looking for greener pastures. The chief concern is paying as cheaply as possible for electricity as the energy demands of mining are high. Some locales are finding themselves overwhelmed by the increased demand and are actually shutting down some operations, which is making the affected miners really angry. Read more...

Operators looking to move their Bitcoin mining business to Quebec may be out of luck as the Canadian province is giving a cold shoulder to many of them.

The fact that a number of countries, such as China, are cracking down on cryptocurrency mining has led to many operators looking for greener pastures elsewhere. One such pasture is located in Canada, the province of Quebec to be precise, which features cheap power for crypto mining. However, the region is giving a cold shoulder to many looking to relocate their Bitcoin mining operations there.